January 26, 2009 — The University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service has just issued its 27th annual edition of "Virginia Local Tax Rates."

"The book is basically a reference document, but it has become the book most requested by Virginia local government officials," said John L. Knapp, senior economist at the Cooper Center.

Knapp, along with William M. Shobe and Stephen C. Kulp, also of the Cooper Center, produced the book, which was published in December 2008 in cooperation with the Virginia Municipal League and the Virginia Association of Counties.

The 354-page volume contains detailed information on tax rates in all of Virginia's 95 counties and 39 cities, Knapp said. In addition, there is information for all of Virginia's 36 large towns and for 113 of the remaining 154 smaller towns.

"Tax Rates" provides more than just tax rates, Knapp noted. A separate chapter on each tax includes: share of local taxes provided by each tax; provisions in the Code of Virginia applicable to the tax; in-depth explanations of how the taxes are calculated and applied; measures of central tendency (mean, median, quartile, etc.).

Also in this volume are: a summary of major 2008 General Assembly legislation affecting local taxes; names, phone numbers and e-mail addresses of local tax officials; a table showing sources of tax revenue for each locality surveyed by the Auditor of Public Accounts; a summary of tax incentives in local enterprise zones; and a table showing the assessed value of real estate by category and by locality.

The information in "Virginia Local Tax Rates" is based on an annual survey conducted by the Center for Economic and Policy Studies of the Cooper Center.

To order a copy of the 2008 Tax Rates book, visit the Cooper Center Web site.